While the Wheeling University Rugby team's 15's season has come to an end, 15 of their players will be in action this week. They travel down to Nashville, Tennessee to join the Pittsburgh Forge U23 Rugby team for their match against the USA South U23 Rugby Academy. It is the second year in a row that the Cardinals and Pittsburgh Forge are teaming up for the game, after they took on the Old Glory DC U23 team a season ago.
The 15's season for the Cardinals was a year of first as they embarked on their first season as a full-time National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) D1 Program. They were also one of the six inaugural teams to make up the newly formed Big Rivers Rugby (BRRC) . While things didn't start out the way the Cardinals would have liked, they eventually came storming back, winning their final two conference games and qualifying for the first-ever BRRC Wild Card Game. They took on conference for Adrian College, who they had beaten in the regular season finale, and picked up a close win 31-22. This helped them qualify for the NCR 15's D1 Rugby Playoffs for the first time and they would face Belmont Abbey in first round action. They picked up another close playoff win, defeating Belmont Abbey 19-13 to advance to the Elite 8. That is where their run would end as they fell to #1 Brown 27-7 ending their season.
Many of Wheeling's top performers from their inaugural D1 season will take part in this week's match. Leading scorer Aaron Juma will look to lead the Pittsburgh Forge U23 offense, after scoring a team-best 12 tries during the season. Juma did not have the conventional start to the season that you would expect, not being able to join the team until their week five match against Marian University, where he also scored his first career try. From there, he went on to score 12 tries across seven matches for an average of just under two tries per match. Joining Juma on the offensive side include Chief Chipfumbu, Lawula Bata (who scored one of the best tries of the season), Navin Couch, and Ashcraf Boutfanzout.
While the offense has propelled the team to success, the defense has been a strong force for the Cardinals this season as well. Of their 11 matches played this season, the defense held the opposition to 25 or less points seven times and held them under the 20 points mark in three of those seven instances. The Cardinals used big bodies and a big ruck game to get the ball back into their offenses hands. Josh Blankenship and Michael Muleya each help lead the Cardinal's defensive front and both will be making the trip to Nashville, Tennessee. Joining them will be Clarouly Meca, Antonio Tangre, Zach Ekey, and EJ Vidal will each be on the defensive end for the Pittsburgh Forge.
On Saturday, Pittsburgh Forge U23 officially released their roster for the game and of the 23 players on the roster, 14 of them come from Wheeling University. Other schools represented in the team include Frostburg State and the University of Pittsburgh as well as members of both the Pittsburgh Harlequins and the South Pitt Hooligans. The teams are participating in their final training on Saturday and will take the field on Sunday morning at around 11 AM. The match will happen at the Hendersonville Soccer Fields in Hendersonville, Tennessee. At this time, no live stream information has been released for the game, but we will update if it becomes available.
Kick-off for the annual Pittsburgh Forge U23 Rugby match is scheduled for 11 AM in Hendersonville, Tennessee. We will keep you updated and give you a full recap of the Cardinal's day here at wucardinals.com.
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